Schlepping 4 Democracy & Wandering with the Pups

 

Subscribe to My Blog! November 7, 2022 Schlepping 4 Democracy & Wandering 4 the Pups PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com So Gordon Mar is a good liberal supervisor who represents the Sunset, the southwest area of San Francisco. It's all single family homes and is the most politically conservative area of the city. Mar took a stand against all the recalls for the D.A. and School Board that we just had. That took guts because the recalls were popular in his district. I also was against the recalls. And now he is suffering for his integrity. Gordon Mar's challenger and has no attributes other than having supported the recalls. He's only lived in the district for seven months. He's done nothing And he might win. And Mar has created affordable housing, is working on climate changes issues. He's been a hardworking progressive supervisor. So it seemed a good thing to support Gordon Mar's re-election. So Saturday, it was raining very lightly. I put on my raincoat and sturdy leather boots, walked down to the underground Muni stop in the Castro. And I mean down. I could have rolled down to the Muni stop. But still, I did walk eight blocks. Took Muni underground to the West Portal station, then got the 48 Quintara bus to 21st Avenue. Walked four loooong blocks to the Gordon Mar campaign headquarters. My job was to ring the bell of every voter who had already been identified as a Mar supporter and find out if they had already voted, if not, did they have a plan to vote, and basically urge them to vote. And record all this information. I was assigned a VERY LARGE precinct that was VERY FAR AWAY. That's because I got there kinda late. All the close precincts were already taken. I walked from 21st Avenue to 36th Avenue, so that's fifteen blocks. Then I walked from Noriega to Ortega to Pacheco to Rivera to Quintara. It is so very cool that the streets in the Sunset are in alphabetical order. Okay, that was four looong blocks. I HAD ARRIVED AT MY PRECINCT! I COULD START RINGING DOORBELLS! I had taken two forms of public transportation and walked THIRTY BLOCKS in a light rain. I was wet. I was cold. My heavy boots made every step more work. I was exhausted. So I called Mar headquarters and told them I would finish the precinct the next day. I didn't mention that I hadn't even started canvassing. And then I called a LYFT and went home. That was my political activism for the day. Oh, my home felt so cosy and warm. I was so happy to be there. I took a nice nap. And when I woke up, I realized it was the last Daylight savings day, and I could still take the pups for a walk in the late afternoon! Somehow, I got my mojo back and walked up hill and down dale with the pups. We went to our favorite park, which is a bit hidden. In this late afternoon, it was empty. It wasn't really raining. It was misting. I had never seen an angel trumpet so full of blooms. And somebody had written an entire poem in chalk on the blacktop! It was so beautiful. This is the top part of the poem. "Morning movements call awake As cup to saucer." I'm not sure what that means, but it conjures something in me. This is the bottom part. A lovely, strange, partly incomprehensible, neatly written in chalk, poem to say to me, "Yo! I'm here, you're here. This is the moment! Here's a present of some words to remind you of the fog and the morning and MUNI's whispering metronome." And I had just been on the MUNI and I hadn't even noticed! No, that's not true. I always hear the shoosh-click shoosh-click sound the MUNI makes. But I never thought of it as a whispering metronome. Thank you, unknown poet of State Street Park. So I tossed the ball for the pups for a while. I throw two balls, one after another, so that they both have something to chase. And then we headed home. I noticed that someone had a wonderful surprise waiting for them on their doorstep. And on Eureka Street, the Gingkos are beginning to turn gold. And then I was home. And the next day, Sunday, the sun was shining and I put on my good walking shoes and took a Lyft to my precinct. Of course mostly people weren't home. But some were and I recorded their responses. Many were very enthusiastic about Gordon Mar, which made me feel good. And I walked the twenty blocks back to headquarters, and turned in all my data. And then I took a LYFT home. I sure hope you win, Gordon. But I can't do any more for you. You're too damn far away. And your blocks are too looong. Good luck! Today and tomorrow, I'm sticking closer to home. I'm going to phone bank in the Castro at the Democratic Party headquarters. I'll probably be calling Georgia or Pennsylvania. But I'll be closer to home myself. Bloggellinis, I'm scared. I think we all are. Doing these little things, like canvassing that precinct, holds back my fear a little bit. I won't let that fear keep me from enjoying the special moments, like a poem on the blacktop in the park. Terry

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